


Something like a joyride

by rayfelle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Harry and Ginny never got married, Parent!Harry, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-17 04:51:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4653024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayfelle/pseuds/rayfelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After war Harry became a full-time Auror, as well as full-time parent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something like a joyride

Harry looked out of the train window, squinting at the trees that passed. The outside world was dark, mysterious, hiding all kinds of magical secrets – some of them more dangerous than others. And it was his duty as an Auror to recover some of them.

Especially the ones concerning the vampires.

With a sigh Harry pulled back from the window and stretched out the kinks and cracks in his back. It had been a rather long ride and he wasn’t used to sitting still in one place for such a long time. But he’ll be there soon, at the station closest to the place where there had been sightings of said vampires, as well as casualties.

All in all, it was going to be a busy mission for sure.

…

Bundled up in his two-sizes-too-large hoodie and squishing though the mud Harry wondered why every damn dark creature had to hide in old and damp forests. There were plenty of old castles and abandoned muggle houses around to live in – why did it have to be forests? No meeting in old and dark forests had ever ended well for him so far.

“Mirjeta? Hullo, Mirjeta?” He called out into the dark, his wand held in front of him for both light and defense needs. “I hate this forest just as much as you do, so how about you come here for a small talk, huh?” His Albanian was still awkward on his tongue, but nothing could be helped about that.

What he got for a reply was a loud hiss and a tall, pale and unhealthy thin body barreling towards him, with sharp teeth bared and ready to bite in his flesh.

Yep, forests sucked.

…

It took a while to wrangle the vampire away from him and then tie the thing up. Harry had bleeding claw marks all over his arms and a neck (but no bites, that would be hard to deal with) in the end, together with a bound and hissing vampire rolling around the mud.

“This is why I am not a fan of angry women.” He groaned while examining the scratches. Nothing too deep, thankfully. And easy to fix up, though, scars will be left behind on his skin for sure. All in all, it could be worse, Harry concluded.

The vampire, in the mean time, was cursing him out with everything she got. Some of the words he knew and some that he didn’t know Harry decided to keep in mind. They sounded like something good, judging by the intensity.

He knocked the vampire out with a spell when he was ready to leave and then tended to his poor clothing. The pants he left shredded, since his skinny jeans looked pretty good with the holes.

…

Once Mirjeta was given away in the caring hands of the local dark creature institution (now _that_ was an experience Harry did not want to repeat for a while) he was ready to head back to Britain. Tired and with his wounds taken care of, he was sitting in the uncomfortable seat of the train once more, trying not to fall asleep.

He reached out to scratch his hair, how shoulder-length and just untamed as always, and then sighed. Once he got back, Harry needed to check in with the Auror department, have a proper bath and then get more than a half an hour of sleep.

He also hoped Teddy will like the pair of old vampire fangs he had gotten for the kid as a souvenir.

First things first, though, Harry needed to send out a letter to Ron. He promised to let his best friend know that he was still alive and not turned into a Dark Creature by the end of this mission.

…

He used the floo to get from Grimmauld Place to the ministry. It was already late and all Harry wanted to do was sleep, but duty called and reports had to be made.

The Ministry was quiet and empty at this time of the night, with no one to stop him on his way from the fireplaces to the messy Auror offices. He yawned, long enough for tears to gather at the corners of his eyes, and promptly walked into a wall.

“Bugger.” He sighed and reached out to rub at his forehead. Once seated by his small cubicle, covered in various clutter of broken pens, wanted posters, notes and something that might have been food at one point, Harry dug around for a clean piece of paper.

Sometimes he wondered why he had thought that being an Auror might be fun.

…

Thrice he managed to almost fall asleep writing, but in the end the report was done (sloppily, but done anyway) and now he was free to go home for sure. With his wand tucked in the back pocket of his jeans Harry made his way back to the fireplaces (elevator ride helped with staying awake, as usual) when he was stopped by Mr. Weasley.

“Hello there, Harry. You look charming tonight.” The man was grinning even though he looked to be just as tired as Harry himself.

Harry offered his hand up for a shake and then smiled back. Mr. Weasley’s good mood was as contagious as always. “All thanks to a rather feisty lady. Nearly clawed my eyes out that one.” He laughed, rolling up the right sleeve of his hoodie to show off the pink claw marks.

Mr. Weasley whistled quietly, impressed. “Oh, that does look bad. Good thing we got you back in one piece, yeah?” He paused and then continued. “I think Ron wanted to tell you when you get back, but we’re having a sort of get-together with everyone on Sunday. You should come. And bring Teddy over as well, the little tyke.”

Teddy was already seven and didn’t enjoy being called ‘little tyke’ anymore, but Harry decided keep quiet on that. “We’ll come, the two of us. He says he wants to help in de-gnoming your garden again.” Hopefully this time there will be more of the de-gnoming happening and less of the rolling in dirt.

“Excellent! I won’t hold you back anymore, then. Sleep well, Harry!” Mr. Weasley patted Harry on the back and then apparated away. For some reason all of this felt a bit like it had been planned beforehand, but Harry was too tired to care.

…

Harry was woken up the next day (thankfully, around one in the afternoon, not ten in the morning) by a very excited and done-with-waiting nephew of his. “Harry, _wake up_. You promised me gifts and I waited _for so long_ already. Grandma says hi, too.” A pair of very pointy knees were digging in Harry’s stomach as the boy continued to shake him awake.

“Welcome back, glad you got home in one piece as well, Ted.” Harry pushed the boy down on his bed and buried under the blankets. Perhaps he’ll get enough time to get a pair of pants on now.

While his godfather was struggling to get a pair of trainers on Teddy popped up from the blanket mountains, his hair a bright shade of green. “How rude.” There was a pout on the boy’s lips now, “After I was so nice and let you sleep in. Ungrateful.”

“Ah, forgive me, my one and only. How could I do such a thing, really?” Harry laughed and tied his hair up in a messy bun. He yawned then, scratched his naked shoulder. “Well then, let’s go and get your souvenirs. Before you start pouting.”

…

“And she _scratched_ you? Oh my god! Will you scar? That would be so cool.” Teddy patted the scratch scars on Harry’s arm, eyes wide and excitement almost pouring out of him. “Did the fangs belong to the lady? How did you get them out of her mouth?”

“I have enough scars already, though. Still cool? And _nah_ , she still has her own pair. These belonged to some other vampire.” Harry drank his afternoon tea, trying not to spill any as his arm was tugged this way and that by his charge.

Teddy gave him a flat look, one that Harry had seen on Remus’ once. “Harry, you’re like the most famous wizard in the world. You’re always cool, even if granny calls you lazy and aunt Hermione thinks your hair is stupid.”

“Good to know that. Thanks, kid.” Harry reached out and ruffled Teddy’s hair, then frowned and added, “And my hair is not stupid.” He didn’t deny being lazy.

…

The two of them arrived at the Burrow half an hour late because Teddy had gotten stuck in a closet for some reason.

Harry smiled as he watched his charge run to join the pack of small children, smoothly joining the discussion about garden gnomes and levitation spells. He pretended he hasn’t heard anything, if only to escape possible wrath of Molly when she will find out what the younger generation has been up to.

“Harry! Finally you’re here.” Hermione was the first one to greet him with a quick kiss on the cheek. “Ginny and Dean got here before you and those two are _always_ late. Was your trip fun? No poisonings or injuries I should know about?” She narrowed her eyes at the new pair of scars decorating Harry’s wonderful self, already planning what to do about them.

“Sorry, sorry. I had to win a battle with a closet. And nah, no life endangering accidents. Just scratches.” Harry replied with a shrug. Then he turned his head to grin at Ron, when his best friend slapped his ass as a greeting. “Wotcher, mate.”

Ron adjusted his hold on his daughter, the girl trying to squirm away from them all and back to the plotting pack of small children even with the impressive nosebleed she had. “Nice battle scars. Did you bring me anything from Albania?” He grinned right back at his best friend and looked just the same as when he was thirteen and ready for mischief.

“Got you some freaky sweets. But if you end up in St. Mungo’s that’s no longer my responsibility.”

Before Ron could get out a reply (or, Hermione a warning and her own two cents about this whole weird candy deal) Molly called them all out to the garden and to sit down at the table.

…

“Harry, dear, do you actually _eat_? Look at you! All skin and bones!” Molly huffed as she piled the Auror’s plate full of mashed potatoes and pork chops. “Honestly, at least Teddy looks well fed, don’t you dear? No doubt all thanks to Andromeda.”

“Grandma says the same. And she also said that I’m really the adult in our home. I don’t want to be the adult. Seems boring and, like, you’re tired all the time.” Teddy stabbed his sausage with quite the force. He sighed and took a bite out of it. “No bedtime would be nice though.”

The whole table erupted in laughter; Ron’s the loudest out of all of them. Harry rolled his eyes and poked Teddy as a small revenge, after exchanging equally suffering looks with Dean. Next thing they will be taking apart his lack of style and poor haircut choices, no doubt. In that case he will be damn sure to pull down Ron and his moustache under with him. Best friends stick together and all that jazz.

For now, Harry will just accept his serving of food and pretend he is above all of them. The true adult. Even if he does secretly levitate the saltshaker closer and closer to Charlie’s cup of coffee.

One was never too old for small chaos making.

…

Later, while Molly was trying to figure out how to get the gnomes off from the roof the Burrow (Harry was quite sure that Ginny’s son was the one behind the schematics of this particular doing) Ginny finds him and nudges her hip against his as a conversation starter.

“Your new scars are quite dashing, oh chosen one.” She said, smiling.

Harry huffed, shuddering a bit from being called that particular name again. “I’m a super cool single dad now, I was informed.” He nodded with his head towards the general direction of the very quiet (and not at all suspicious) whispers coming from the garden shed.

 Ginny’s smile widened and she punched Harry in the shoulder, with the full strength of a certificated curse breaker. “You will never beat the sexy mom look I pull off. Speaking of, I was sent to find out everything about your nonexistent love life.”

“What love life?” Harry mumbled as he rubbed the place where he had just been punched, “Too busy and tired to have one.” Not that he wanted one to begin with. Maybe sometime later in life.

“I bet your hand says otherwise.” Ginny made a pair of lewd hand gestures and then winked at him. “Come and visit us soon. Dean wants you to check the attic again, says that there are weird noises coming from there.” She said before sauntering back to her own husband.

All that Harry could do is shake his head at her retreating back. “Will do.” Then he ran away to the relative safety of Ron’s company. He still had to give his best friend the questionable sweets, as well as try and get Hermione to admit that his hair was not, in fact, stupid.

…

He needed to leave for his next mission soon. In fifteen minutes, actually.  This time the location was close to home and nothing too dangerous. Probably. Last time he had thought that it might not be too hard Harry had spent good two weeks in St. Mungo’s with severe poisoning.

Andromeda had laughed for five minutes straight. So much for all that pure-blood etiquette.

“I’m going to grandma’s again?” Teddy asked from where he was sitting by the big dining table. Kid still looked sleepy and not quite awake. A miracle, especially for how late in the day it was.

Harry shook his head and ruffled the boy’s hair lightly. “Nah. Ron’s gonna be here to look after you. Said he had enough with two women nagging at him for the experiments he does in free time. Behave, if you can.” He paused in thought. “And don’t burn the house down.”

“Don’t tell _me_ that.” Teddy looked quite hurt that someone might even just _think_ about him doing something that stupid.

It was usually his uncle that set the curtains on fire.


End file.
